Manto - Chinese tasteless streamed bread

I don't know how Chinese think this streamed bread is good.

It's boring tasteless crap. Maybe ok for dipping in a soup. It's nothing but flour, yeast and water. No salt.

Tonights choice for my last dinner was manto or even boringer sloppy plain rice porridge. Amy's family eat rice porridge EVERY breakfast and dinner. It's like a left over tradition from the hard times.

At least they have condiments like picked vegetables, stinky tofu paste, tinned crab meat, etc.

The main meal is actually lunch. Which is usually quite good.

But overall, the food here has been excellent. So good in fact I actually ate too much and strained my stomach Last weekend and got a stomach flu. Crook for 2 days.

We head home Wednesday arvo. Back on Thursday. Back to work Friday.

Coffee dramas

last week my expensive allegedly Italian made stove top coffee maker's handle fell off. Very poor welding job.

today I decided to take a last minute advantage of the cheap labour here. Some dingy corner workshop, well all the street shops are dingy looking. It's a rough job as you can see but only cost me $2.

I didn't go to the shop when we took it down there, so they wouldn't up the price to $4 because i'm a foreigner. Happens all the time apparently.

Humongous Aussie mango in China, Canberrans you are being ripped off

We found this in Amy's parent's favourite poverty looking fruit shop on the dirty old road near their apartment.

It's imported from Aussie, bigger and juicier than anything I've found in the fruit markets and supermarkets in Canberra. And it was perfect, which is also hard to come by back home. Cost just over $3 AU.

We don't realise how much shyte is sold off back home...

Video - Lingshan Buddhist Palace Tower hall

Video - Lingshan Buddhist Palace Holy altar

Lingshan Buddhist Palace

In the Lingshan Buddhist Scenic spot is the Lingshan Buddhist Palace,
which rivals in hugeness and beauty as many of the European
cathedrals.

The building doesn't have the ancient history, but again, China knows
how to make things grander. The light display Holy Alter was huge and
spectular. The whole ceiling changes from one colour to the next.

http://www.lingshan.org/ls/jindian.html

Lingshan Buddhist Scenic spot near Wuxi

Our second day in Wuxi, we travelled to the Lingshan Buddhist Scenic
spot which had the mighty Buddha.

Most of this is recently made, which is surprising since religion
isn't really encouraged(?) here. Although there must be still a lot of
Buddhist followers as there was plenty of praying and manically
touching the Bhudda's feet.

But the Chinese certainly know how to make things big and spectacular.
The baby buddha foundain was hugely popular. Fountains spraying to the
beat of the loud monkish sounding music.

http://www.lingshan.org/ls/jindian.html